Tests Required for Licensure

By action of the Indiana General Assembly, individuals must pass a series of license exams before they can be issued a license to teach in Indiana. All teachers are required to meet the cut-off scores for the Core Academic Skills Assessment (CASA) Reading, CASA Writing, and CASA Mathematics tests or an approved alternative for admittance into a teacher preparation program. Praxis I scores will be honored if the appropriate test is completed with a passing score, prior to August 31st, 2013 as an alternative to the CASA. Students who have taken the Praxis I combined test, but fail one or more of the sub-tests, need only to register for the portion of the CASA they still need to pass. Ball State requires that students achieve a passing score on these three tests prior to admission to the 300 level teacher education courses. These tests can be taken by registering at www.in.nesinc.com. Should a student select Ball State as the testing site, and appointment will be made at the testing center on campus (Testing Programs, Lucina Room 366, 765-285-1290). Teachers are also required to pass the Indiana Core Assessment test(s) for their content areas for licensure and graduation from the Ball State University Teacher Preparation program. Praxis II test scores will be honored if the appropriate test is completed with a passing score prior to May 31, 2014, as an alternative to the Indiana Core Assessment content test. Students taking and passing the PRAXIS II will still be required to take and pass the appropriate Indiana Core Assessment pedagogy test.

Important Details

Make sure you have copies of your scores sent to Ball State University. During each test session you will be asked to identify where you want your scores sent using codes. The code for BSU is R1051. If you take the test at any location in Indiana, the Indiana Department of Education will automatically receive the scores so there is no need to code them in. If you take the test outside Indiana, please code the Office of Educator Licensing and Development so they will receive your scores. The code for the Office of Educator Licensing and Development is R7238.

If you do not record codes correctly at the time of testing, it will cost you extra money to get official score copies to BSU later. Be very careful when you grid-in the various items of information during the test sessions. Scores have been sent to the wrong place and under the wrong name because an examinee was careless. Record the codes very carefully!

Plan ahead: Scoring the tests takes approximately 10-20 business days. Complete your tests far enough in advance to allow for a retake if necessary and for the scores to arrive. You may not apply for your license until all required scores have been received by the Office of Teacher Education Services. It is recommended that all license exam requirements be completed prior to the beginning of the student's last semester before graduation and/or completion of the last license course requirement in the case of graduate licensing only students.

When signing-up to take the tests at BSU allow plenty of registration time for the tests due to the large number of examinees wanting to take them at the Ball State location.

Ball State University is not permitted to recommend applicants for the initial Indiana teaching license until after the Office of Teacher Education Services has received copies of passing scores for all of the required license tests.

There is no limit to the number of times failed tests may be retaken.

If you expect to apply for a license in a state other than Indiana which also requires Praxis I (PPSTs), or the CASA, and/or Praxis II (subject assessment) tests, you arrange to have your scores sent to that state at the time of testing.

Scores will be posted to your account at casa.starttest.com and will be available as PDF documents, which you may view, print, and save for your records.